Photo Essay

Indonesia 07/05

Residents of Nias, struggling to cope, are afraid of the next earthquake

Nias Island, April 18, 2005

Photos by Petteri Kokkonen, Action by Churches Together (ACT) International/FinnChurchAid

Text by Riitta Saarinen, Action by Churches Together (ACT) International/FinnChurchAid

Most of the damage from the earthquake on March 29 near the west coast of Sumatra was on Nias Island, where thousands of houses were destroyed and hundreds of people were killed. There is still a shortage of heavy moving equipment on the island, so most of the clearing will have to be done by hand, which will take a long time.

Nias's capital, Gunungsitoli, was the most heavily damaged area because of its dense population and its many houses built of heavy concrete. Even some buildings which appear to be in good condition are now unsafe to live in. Many of them have bad cracks and unstable foundations.

One of the biggest problems in the weeks after the earthquake was transporting food aid because the earthquake damaged many roads and bridges. It is impossible to drive to many places by truck, so the only way to distribute food to more remote places is by ship and helicopter.

Yayasan Tanggul Bencana (YTB), a member of Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, has been concentrating on food aid following the earthquake. YTB has used three ships to carry food from Sibolga harbor in Sumatra to the northern cities of Nias. The World Food Program has also asked YTB to coordinate food distribution in villages.

One YTB ship arrived in Lahewa harbor carrying more than 30 tons of rice as well as noodles, dried fish and cabbage. These supplies were for five villages. It took some time for men to carry all 600 rice bags - 50 kilograms each - into the trucks waiting in the harbor.

YTB is distributing food to larger communities that have agreed to do the cooking themselves in public kitchens. In all, there are almost 180 public kitchens in Nias that are feeding more than 20,000 people in the Gunungsitoli area and the same number of people elsewhere in Nias.

ACT member YAKKUM Emergency Unit (YEU) is providing emergency medical services on Nias. It sent doctors and nurses from Jakarta immediately after the earthquake to work in several emergency clinics. YEU also has mobile clinics and medical teams elsewhere in Nias.

Yusniar Harefa and her husband, Sagharudin Zaqoto, have brought their four-month-old twin boys, Daniel and Devrol, who are suffering from a cough, to a YEU clinic. The family lost its home in the earthquake and is living in a tent in a camp, where they have not received enough food or clean water. Yusniar has not been able to breastfeed her babies for a month, nor has she had any formula to feed them.

When YEU doctor Nerminda Tarigan heard this, she sent the parents to YTB's food-distribution center nearby, where they were given baby food. Yusniar and Saqharudin also received medicine for the twins after they were examined at the clinic.

Noibe Waruwu, 45, was brought to a YEU clinic with her husband and a couple of other patients on a helicopter from Asawa. Waruwu broke her right leg in the earthquake when she tried to rescue her children from collapsing walls. Two of her three children survived, but one died. After the doctors at the clinic check her leg, she will be transferred to the floating hospital of U.S. Navy.

Waruwu is still very frightened and shocked about all that has happened. At night, she asks to be taken near the doors of the clinic so she can get out as quickly as possible if there is another earthquake. She lost many relatives in the earthquake. Besides her own child, she lost her daughter-in-law, who was pregnant, and her granddaughter.

One YEU clinic was opened temporarily on the premises of a technical college, which is beside a football field. Now the field is used by helicopters, which can land there easily. Helicopters bring patients to the clinic from other parts of Nias as well as take them to hospitals in Sumatra or the floating hospital of the U.S. Navy after the patients have been examined by doctors in the clinic and decisions have been made about their care.

Seven-year-old Ratna, who was injured in the earthquake, is carried to the helicopter that will take her to the U.S. Navy's floating hospital.

During the first week after the earthquake, many patients came to the clinic with internal injuries, skin injuries and broken bones. But now there are more and more trauma patients who are showing psycho-somatic symptoms. The clinic is open for emergencies 24 hours a day, and an average of 270 patients per day visit.

"The situation is still very critical. People do not have enough food to eat, so their health is getting weaker. And when the defense mechanism of the body is low, they get diseases easier. Besides, the massive earthquake has been a most terrifying experience for many people, so there will be need for trauma counselling later on,” says Dr. Fonali Lahagu from YEU.

Wazna Zebua, 75, gives water to her 8-month-old grandchild, Rizki. This Lahewan family's home was completely destroyed by the earthquake, but all eight members of the family survived.

The provision of clean water is a crucial issue in all disasters. Church World Service and Norwegian Church Aid, both members of ACT, transported a water-purification unit by truck from Meulaboh to Sibolga and from there to Gunungsitoli by ferry. The water-purification unit was to go to Sirombu on the west coast, where there has been a shortage of clean water since the tsunami in December.

At night, very few electrical lights can be seen in Gunungsitoli, not to mention the other parts of Nias Island. Therefore, many oil lamps and lanterns are in use. Because of the earthquake, there is electricity only in some parts of the capital. The local government will try to restore electricity to 30 percent of Gunungsitoli by the end of April.

Thousands of fearful Nias residents have left their home island – at least for a while – to stay with relatives in Sumatra. Following the tsunami and March earthquake, many rumors have been circulating to the effect that the whole island of Nias will sink under water or even break in two parts.

Most people in Nias want to sleep outside, even if their houses are still standing. The fear is great, and continuous aftershocks strengthen these feelings even more.

Adilati Harefa, 54, lives in Gunungsitoli with his wife Emilia and their four children. They are spending nights in a tent beside the ruins of their house.

“My own family survived, but my sister injured her back in the earthquake and was taken to hospital care to Medan in Sumatra. But we are still so much afraid of the after-tremors that some of us stay awake when the others are sleeping,” he says.